198 



VEGETABLE DISEASES- 



; — ROUND TABLE 



doubt that it gets in through the seed, and I think it is quite possible 

 that the smut is more widespread in the state than we now know. 

 While seed onions are grown entirely separately from field onions, 

 nevertheless, in the seed work inspection in Massachusetts, it was 

 found that there is always a certain amount of smut spores in the 

 onion seed. 



Mr. Greffrath : Could those germs be killed by a treatment of 

 the seed? 



Dr. Reddick; They could be killed. I should think it would be 

 a good thing if you have not any smut in the field to treat the seed, 

 though I cannot tell you what strength of formalin to use, nor how 

 long the treatment should continue. 



Mr. Greffrath: Would that be good for maggots.^ 



Dr. Reddick : I do not think so. The one point that ought to be 

 impressed if we are going to use the sulphur treatment or any treat- 

 ment is that it must be right in the row with the seed. 



Question: What form of lime is called for there .'^ 



Dr. Reddick: It is air-slaked lime. 



CELERY LEAF BLIGHT 



Celery is a crop that I presume a number of you are interested in. 

 Practically every year we have the celery leaf blight, both early and 

 late. Celery this year that I saw in storage by the carload from many 

 places in western and northern Xew York was almost invariably 

 infected with the late blight fungus. We selected two different places 

 in northern New^ York last year for celery spraying experiments, and I 

 believe that those are the only two places in the state that there was 

 no late blight. I am not recommending this as a method of treat- 

 ment, but possibly if you could get one of our boys to come to your 

 place, he would keep the blight away for you. Nevertheless, it 

 has been demonstrated satisfactorily that the blight can be handled 

 readily by the use of Bordeaux Mixture. Those growers who have the 

 blight with them seriously every year plan to spray with Bordeaux to 

 keep the new growth covered. The number of sprayings depends 

 upon how fast the plants are growing. If the new leaves are pushing 

 up in the centers and spreading out rapidly, he must spray more 

 frequently. If dry weather is holding the plants back, then the 

 sprayings do not have to be so frequent. It is purely a matter of 



